It isn't a problem or a failing to recognise where society is perhaps failing its citizens or where there are problems that need addressing. But to be fair, it needs a balance. I don't find that many Brits sing quite as loudly about some of the countries good points as they do about the bad.

LOL @ Lord and Lady Muck, ahhh british people.

You've got some good friends! My close friends have also been supportive about my desire to go home, my family and acquaintances think I'm insane.

Oh i wouldn't worry about it, there's always someone that has that sort of opinion. Usually it's the people that have never moved anywhere in their life. The typical why do you want to leave the nice weather and return to the cold, why give up all the luxuries of the middle east. I know, i lived in Jordan on and off for year while my husband worked there. I hated it. I think the british women out there put up with it because the money is good and they get to have nanny's/maids. That just wasn't me and i let everyone know. We will be returning to the UK at the end of the year from Perth WA, people are quite happy that we are going back but we still do get the negative things said to us about work in the UK. I think it's just the british way and also the british newspapers. Well, we'll soon find out!

Thanks for the comments and support I haven't let it bother me too much I just found it quite inconsiderate.

They were British born and mostly lived in parts of London I think, so I agree that perhaps when they think of the UK they summon up worse memories / experiences than I maybe because of their area.

I also agree that people might see it as a 'slight' on them that I'm choosing to move away from where they're happy. Perhaps they feel like they have to defend their choice to stay??

Odd, but each to their own & all that!

I bet the people who are all doom and gloom about you moving back we're probably the same way when you told them you were leaving in the first place .." What d'you want to do that for ", " Oh big mistake that" etc, etc.

Indeed, they are generally not the type to look on the bright side of life!

agree entirely , the negative british public and institution and ermmm perceived self imposed class system does grate on someone who has lived overseas for donkeys years . Its bloody hard to ignore too ,i knw i just want to say ''shut the f@@k up''

Of course the upside is we don't trumpet our own horns, we have the best sense of humour in the world and we find pleasure in the smallest things - my American wife found it puzzling at first that I could get so excited about " Having a lovely cuppa and a chocy bikky" .

They're not the products of being a nation of complainers though.

Actually, I find the the attitudes in the UK quite open and refreshing after living in North America for 23 years where everything is rah-rah, rainbows and lollipops.

Even the Conservative government has stated that house prices are too high and must come down. Expensive housing was a product of the cheap and easy credit made available by the former socialist government. And a few others, including the people themselves who took on all of this debt.

Do you really think the prior government was socialist? Left of centre, yes, but socialist? I mean perhaps they were, I'm not a political science student, and for the tail end of their government I didn't live in the country.

House prices have been out of the average persons reach since the housing boom at the end of the 80s IMO, when house prices doubled and tripled but wages did not. Which was under a conservative government btw.
But yes house prices are ridiculous. Owning your own home has become a dream for many of the kids born in the 70s and 80s. Here in the US its no better, believe me.

Okay, left of centre is more accurate. I don't know what's going to happen either. Like I said on another thread, when I left the UK in 1982, my house was worth three times my salary. Today it would cost 8 to 9 times my salary (in the same job). The government certainly don't want a housing crash with people walking away from their homes. That would really put a strain on the banks. My guess is that the market will more or less flat line (give or take a few fluctuations) until inflation catches up but I have been wrong before. Even some the financial institutions are negative on house prices now after talking the market up for years. I am sure that for those in negative equity, they will have a sound investment in the long term. At my age, I have lived through numerous housing booms and crashes. It is a fact of life. Houses always go up faster than salaries and then pull back somewhat.

ohhhhhhh Mr Kong are you still in Aus or back in Blighty? Skeggy beach is waiting......

You're making me homesick. Take your wife to Durham / Northumberland for a visit - it's not always cold / damp and there is so much on offer (if she likes shopping go to Newcastle and the Metro Centre!!) - she may just change her mind